The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-06-11

ANO VA tAtO AkkSNN HUH aAANNS ever put under contract in the United States; they have two in blast. Thesa four furnaces will require daily 1850 ;. tons ot ore, 1000 tons of coal and 2So tons of lime rock. total of 300 tons of raw material to bc mined and quarried and crushed and delivered by rail, and it will ship daily 500 tons of iron. in other words, it requires ten trains of fifteen cars to the train to do the business of this company alone. Then, again, when iron advances one dollar per ton, the Sloss company does not have to give the owner of the orc 25 cents of this and the coal mines 25 cents, as in Pittsburg, but it mines its own ores and coal. These four fur naces require this railroad service. Multiply that by five. and you get only the furnace demand for transpor- tation, to say nothing of the passenger and freight business incidental to the city.
 "The Elyton Land O., the original projector of the city. had its annual meeting this week The company de- clared last year Sl .300, ,O00 dividends oI capital of s2oo ,00o. It has assets valued at $s,o00, ,00o, and it authorized its president to invest this year in manufactures here and in other cities ! for the benefit of the city, one million and six hundred thousand dollars. The purpose of the company is to put this money into rolling mills and other industries to consume our iron at home. When established and con ducted to point that insures their success, the company will sell these plants and put the money into new ones, and keep turning it over. In other words. fund of million and a half dollars will bc constantly on hand to help all meritorious schemes tending to build up and de- velop the city. Is there any other place capable of manufacturing an article of such general and universal use as iron. that has so many solid arguments behind it ? Successful manufactures make cities anywhere. Here we have the raw materials, the health, the climate. the transportation facilities and the capi- tal."
 "What is your opinion as to the eff feet of the interstate commerce bill on Birmingham =
 "I do not think this bill will im- pede the progress and development of industries here. In the first place, the commission is composed of wise and discreet men of great experience and ability. They know that tn enforce the long and short haul section will be to prevent competition and enhance the cost of iron to the manufacturers and people of the west. IT we are driven from the west it will hand these people over to monopoly. We cannot be driven from the east. as we can send our product to the ocean and reach New York, Boston and Balti- more almost as cheaply as the Penn sylvania manufacturers.
 "Then again." he went on to say, ''if we cannot afford to sell our pig iron in the west it will force us to manufacture the pig into stoves, rolled iron. pipe, engines and ma chinery, which will bear higher rates of transportation, as the con version doubles and quadruples the value of the product, and we will en- ter the market against manufacturers at Chicago. St. Louis and Cincinnati, with our product made of iron that cost us four dollars per ton less than manufacturers there. This would double the number of skilled men employed here.
 Birmingham is lj0 miles nearer 1 Kansas City and St. Louis than Pitts burg. and with anything like equality ! in freights, we do not fear Pittsburg." i"
 Referring to new enterprises, Col onel Johnston mentioned that "the Sloss Iron and Steel company had just let the contract for their two new furnaces, which will be the finest fur naces in the world. and the contract price is the third greatest ever made in the furnace line in the United States. The cost of the two will be $450,o00 cash This company has also purchased the Coalberg coal property, l3,000 acres. for S75O, ,OO0, and are building 300 coke ovens, to cost s7O,- 900. Our new furnaces will have a capacity of 300 tons per diem, and added to our present furnaces, the to- tai will be j00 tons per diem-enough 1 to load twenty-five cars, and requir- ing 2,50O tons of raw material daily. or l35 cars. The pay roll this time next year of the Sloss company will run about 5000 per diem"
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